Dear All,
As a break from the all too frustratingly powerless Nairobi (as it is
now as I write this), Nigel Hunter, Fleur Ng'Weno Catherine Ngarachu
and myself went down to Olorgesailie for one nights pleasant stay in
their Bandas.
The amount and location of rainfall was extraordinary. The first
indication of the cyclonic weather was on the steep descent after
Kisamese, where the water pouring down there has been sufficient to
wash large rocks all over the road, forcing the traffic into a single
lane in the centre. The Ol Kejo bridge looks like a nuclear disaster,
the shameless illegal charcoal harvesting has allowed the water to
pour down the valley and has washed away the safety railings on both
sides to the bridge. All the way to Olorgesailie now are open plains
with scattered small trees, but nothing like the wooded wilderness it
used to be. The grass cover is still scant and it looks as if there
has been very little rain in many areas. There are patches of denser
scrub on the hills but their days too are probably numbered. After
such a bad drought and lack of habitat it is not surprising that birds
seem to be disappearing drastically, although Fawn-coloured Larks are
all over the place, taking advantage of the open areas. The variety of
birds was there, but the numbers were very low. Olorgesaillie area
however is still well wooded along the banks of the river, and the Ol
Tepesi-Emerit road still has plenty of habitat. Although brief we had
some nice birding in the area.
We started birding from the Ol Kejo bridge and the species recorded
are all from the Olorgesaillie side of the river. There were three
Black-and-White Cuckoos at the bridge, and a Black Cuckoo calling on
the slopes. A party of six Eurasian Bee-eaters were flying over but
migrants were in very short supply. Two Olivaceous and Willow, single
Whitethroat and Garden Warbler and a couple of Spotted Flycatchers. A
Pringle's Puffback called but we did not locate it, and there was a
smart male Eurasian Rock-Thrush.  The best find was the first
Fischer's Starling for the area, I wonder if it has been recorded in
the Rift before. It was in the swampy area just past the place where
the road runs alongside the river gorge some ten kilometres beyond
Olorgesaillie.
The gorge itself had about eight Horus Swifts showing interest in the
steep sandy banks.
Other interesting observations were over 200 Abdim's Storks and a
solitary White Stork in the low depression on the other side of the
road from Ol Tepesi village. Also in this flooded basin we found two
Temminck's Coursers, a Green Sandpiper, single Red-throated Pipit and
four flava and a very attractive thunbergi Yellow Wagtail. In spite of
the wet conditions no other water-associated species had been
attracted.
At night at the bandas there were plenty of Slender-tailed Nightjar,
but no Donaldson-Smith's Nightjars calling. The entry road had the
only migrant shrike, a Lesser Grey, but there were many Capped
Wheatears from unknown provenance, and a male Pied Wheatear that had
the black areas replaced by chocolate brown. A few Heuglin's Coursers
were calling, and we found one on the Emerit Road the next morning. At
the swampy area six kilometres along the road from Ol Tepesi we heard
and managed to locate a Buttonquail, there were several Harlequin
Quails calling, a migrant Common Kestrel, two Kori Bustards, both
Chestnut-bellied and Black-faced Sandgrouse, a Eurasian Cuckoo, two
each of Great Reed and Barred Warblers, Eurasian Reed Warblers
chattering from the swamp grass, a scattering of Olivaceous Warblers,
Spotted Flycatchers and a Whitethroat. Two Northern Wheatears and a
Eurasian Rock-Thrush completed the migrants here.  There were a number
of Singing Bushlarks in the grassy plains, but there were only two on
the plains at Ol Tepesi and none at all at Olorgesaillie. The entire
region seemed to be dripping in White-throated Bee-eaters, many
displaying pairs. The open grasslands were attracting many Cardinal
Queleas.
A list of all of the species recorded follows,
Best to All
Brian

AFRICAN OSTRICH
CATTLE EGRET
ABDIM’S STORK
WHITE STORK
BLACK-WINGED KITE
BLACK-CHESTED SNAKE-EAGLE
EASTERN CHANTING GOSHAWK
TAWNY EAGLE
COMMON KESTREL
99% SAKER
YELLOW-NECKED SPURFOWL
CRESTED FRANCOLIN
HARLEQIN QUAIL
HELMETED GUINEAFOWL
COMMON BUTTONQUAIL
KORI BUSTARD
BUFF-CRESTED BUSTARD
WHITE-BELLIED BUSTARD
TEMMINCK’S COURSER
TWO-BANDED COURSER
HEUGLIN’S COURSER
CROWNED PLOVER
THREE-BANDED PLOVER
GREEN SANDPIPER
WOOD SANDPIPER
CHESTNUT-BELLIED SANDGROUSE
BLACK-FACED SANDGROUSE
AFRICAN MOURNING DOVE
RING-NECKED DOVE
LAUGHING DOVE
EMERALD-SPOTTED WOOD-DOVE
NAMAQUA DOVE
WHITE-BELLIED GO-AWAY BIRD
BLACK-AND-WHITE CUCKOO
RED-CHESTED CUCKOO
BLACK CUCKOO
EURASIAN CUCKOO
KLAAS’ CUCKOO
DIEDERIC CUCKOO
SLENDER-TAILED NIGHTJAR
LITTLE SWIFT
HORUS SWIFT
WHITE-RUMPED SWIFT
SPECKLED MOUSEBIRD
BLUE-NAPED MOUSEBIRD
LITTLE BEE-EATER
WHITE-THROATED BEE-EATER
EURASIAN BEE-EATER
RUFOUS-CROWNED ROLLER
AFRICAN HOOPOE
ABYSSINIAN SCIMITARBILL
AFRICAN GREY HORNBILL
RED-BILLED HORNBILL
VON DER DECKEN’S HORNBILL
RED-FRONTED TINKERBIRD
RED-FRONTED BARBET
BLACK-THROATED BARBET
RED-AND-YELLOW BARBET
D’ARNAUD’S BARBET
NUBIAN WOODPECKER
CARDINAL WOODPECKER
SINGING BUSH-LARK
RUFOUS-NAPED LARK
FAWN-COLOURED LARK
FISCHER’S SPARROWLARK
ROCK MARTIN
BARN SWALLOW
LESSER STRIPED SWALLOW
RED-RUMPED SWALLOW
YELLOW WAGTAIL
RED-THROATED PIPIT
COMMON BULBUL
NORTHERN WHTE-CROWNED SHRIKE
BRUBRU
PRINGLE’S PUFFBACK
BROWN-HEADED TCHAGRA
ROSY-PATCHED SHRIKE
SLATE-COLOURED BOUBOU
SULPHUR-BREASTED BUSH-SHRIKE
GREY-HEADED BUSH-SHRIKE
LESSER GREY SHRIKE
TAITA FISCAL
SPOTTED MORNING THRUSH
WHITE-BROWED SCRUB-ROBIN
NORTHERN WHEATEAR
PIED WHEATEAR
CAPPED WHEATEAR
EURASIAN ROCK-THRUSH
BARE-EYED THRUSH
RUFOUS CHATTERER
EURASIAN REED WARBLER
GREAT REED WARBLER
OLIVACEOUS WARBLER
BARRED WARBLER
GARDEN WARBLER
COMMON WHITETHROAT
WILLOW WARBLER
ASHY CISTICOLA
WINDING CISTICOLA
TINY CISTICOLA
DESERT CISTICOLA
TAWNY-FLANKED PRINIA
YELLOW-BREASTED APALIS
RED-FRONTED WARBLER
BUFF-BELLIED WARBLER
GREY WREN-WARBLER
GREY-BACKED CAMAROPTERA
YELLOW-BELLIED EREMOMELA
NORTHERN CROMBEC
RED-FACED CROMBEC
BANDED PARISOMA
GREY FLYCATCHER
SPOTTED FLYCATCHER
CHIN-SPOT BATIS
COMMON PARADISE FLYCATCHER
MOUSE-COLOURED PENDULINE-TIT
EASTERN VIOLET-BACKED SUNBIRD
SCARLET-CHESTED SUNBIRD
VARIABLE SUNBIRD
MARICO SUNBIRD
BEAUTIFUL SUNBIRD
ABYSSINIAN WHITE-EYE
CINNAMON-CHESTED ROCK-BUNTING
SOMALI BUNTING
REICHENOW’S SEEDEATER
WHITE-BELLIED CANARY
SOUTHERN GROSBEAK CANARY
GREEN-WINGED PYTILIA
RED-BILLED FIREFINCH
BLUE-CAPPED CORDON-BLEU
BLACK-FACED WAXBILL
AFRICAN SILVERBILL
VILLAGE INDIGOBIRD
STRAW-TAILED WHYDAH
EASTERN PARADISE WHYDAH
RED-BILLED BUFFALO-WEAVER
WHITE-BROWED SPARROW-WEAVER
GREY-HEADED SOCIAL-WEAVER
HOUSE SPARROW
RUFOUS SPARROW
SWAHILI SPARROW
YELLOW-SPOTTED PETRONIA
BLACK-NECKED WEAVER
LESSER MASKED WEAVER
VITELLINE MASKED WEAVER
CHESTNUT WEAVER
CARDINAL QUELEA
WHITE-WINGED WIDOWBIRD
FISCHER’S STARLING
HILDEBRANDT’S STARLING
SUPERB STARLING
WATTLED STARLING
AFRICAN DRONGO